Many city blocks away from the cruise ship, a beaten and battered Warp had ran into a street alley. He leaned against a wall and placed his hands against his knees.

What had he been thinking?

Thunderous footsteps made Warp straighten back up.

"There you are!"

Warp was forced to shield himself with his armored gauntlets to avoid being completely singed by a stream of flames. The time traveler stiffly picked himself back up and found himself staring back at a monster.

It was an amalgamation of various organisms. It had four-arms and stood at a height of roughly ten feet, like a Tetramand. However, its two lower arms were those of a Vulpimancer, while it had a crystalline Petrosapien arm and a volcanic Pyronite for its two upper arms. It also had the legs and tail of a Kineceleran, the wings of a Lepidopterran, the right eye of a Galvan, the two left eyes of a Tetramand, and the cranial features of a Pisciss Volann. The mop of messy black hair on the creature's head was the only thing that revealed just what it had originally been.

Warp glared at the creature, "You ingrate! I free you from the Null Void and this is how you repay me?"

"You tried putting me on a leash!" snarled the creature. It tossed a crushed plate-like device to Warp's feet.

Warp stared at the broken device in dismay. Being able to plant that machine on that beast's body was all Warp would have needed to get it to do his bidding.

"So what do you plan on doing?" asked Warp in a low voice.

"Well, now that you mention it," the creature produced a cruel smile as it began to ponder. "You did spring me out of that Null Void place. So I guess I could let you go…"

Warp stared at the creature with a degree of skepticism.

"But," the creature lifted its volcanic arm. "I've got a reputation to own up to!"

Warp hollered as the creature unleashed another wave of flames. The time traveler began running for the hills. The creature laughed in a amusement and made to follow.

"Don't bother with him, Kevin, he's hardly worth your time."

The creature paused. Someone else was here and that someone knew his name. Kevin looked over his shoulder to see a man wearing a unique black and copper mask standing calmly before him.

"Who are you?" impudently asked Kevin.

"That depends," responded Slade. "Who would you want to see me as?"

Kevin cocked his head at Slade. This man seemed to have almost no fear of him. "How about," mused Kevin, "Somebody that better not get in my way!"

"Am I boring you already? Pity," Slade made to leave. "And to think, I thought you would be interested in what I know about the Omnitrix."

"Wait!" called out Kevin. "What did you just say?"

Slade stopped and turned around. Kevin had taken the bait.

"I said the Omnitrix," repeated Slade. "As it just so happens, a person bearing such a device is currently residing here."

Kevin slowly began breaking out into a toothy grin, "Keep talking…."

To be continued in The Power of Two

Author's Note: As indicated above, I will be continuing the saga in a separate story. In fact, I hope on dividing this into at least four parts. I will try posting the first chapter of my next story as quickly as possible under a crossover section for Teen Titans and Ben 10.

No flames please.